Catch for garment-supporters



J. M. RABITTE.

CATCH FOR GARMENT SUPPORTERS.

(No Model.)

No. 484 819. Patented Oct. 25, 1892.

WIT JEEEEE 04.1mm, wuumutau, 'm c.

' UMTED' STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN M. RABITTE, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO THE BALL AND SOCKET FASTENER COMPANY, OF NEW HAMPSHIRE.

.CATCH FOR GARMENT-SUPPORTERS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 484,819, dated October 25, 1892.

Application filed August 22, 1891. Serial No. 403,436. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

- Be it known that I, JOHN M. RABITTE, of Boston, (Allston P. O.,) in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new an useful Improvement in Catches for GarmenbSupporters, of which the following descr ption, in connection with the accompanying drawings, forming a part thereof, is a suflicient specification to enable others ikilled in the art to make and use my inven- For the support of garmentssuch as stocklugs, drawers, and the likeit has been customary of late to employ suspensionstraps on the free ends of which were clasps or deylces forlayin g hold of the fabric of the stock- 1ng near its upper selvage edge or of the waistband of drawers, and these catches were sometimes made as spring-catches having two blades or jaws pivoted upon each other and usually furnished with teeth, interlocking or otherwise, to grasp or hold the fabric firmly without slipping. Of course the use of teeth 1s rather hard upon the fabric, and it has been desirable, if possible, to avoid their use.

In the drawings accompanying and forma part of this specification, Figure 1 is a front elevation of the device which I have invented, with its suspension ring and strap. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same, showing the clasp 1n its holding position engaged with the edge of the garment which it serves to support. Flg. 3 is a perspective of the catch unclasped. Fig. 4 is an enlarged vertical transverse section of a closed catch without any garment engaged with it.

The catch of this invention is preferably made of a single strip of metal of spring temper. It comprises, speaking generally, a head G, which is formed as a return-bend and serves to receive and hold the suspensionring B, through which ring the suspensionstrap A is passed and bent back upon itself and secured to itself. From this head G the metal extends downward on both sides, forming branches or legs. One of these F is the tongue and the other of them 0 is the back. These two branches (tongue and back) are of about equal length, the tongue being slightly shorter than the back. At the bottom of the back 0 the metal is bent at an obtuse angle toward the tongue, as shown at D, and the end of this incline D is bent upward, forming a lip E, the edge of which lip engages with the end of the tongue, as shown.

To engage the clasp with the garment, the edge of the garment is placed between the two legs O and F and the tongue F is pressed toward the back C until the tongue moves over and behind the edge of the lip E.

By looking at Fig. 2 it will be seen that the fabric H of the garment is bent inward and downward over the edge of the lip E and then upward around the end of the tongue F and by the spring of the tongue is. pressed firmly against the edge of thelip E. Any pull, therefore, upon the fabric I-I pulls the tongue F towardthe lip E and causes them to be quite firmly pressed together, and at the same time that it pulls the end of the tongue toward the lip it pulls round the end of the tongue, so that the fabric pulls round two corners, and these corners cannot be displaced from their position except either by bending the tongue F in the center of its length bya pull applied directly on the end, which would be very difficult, or by pulling the lip E downward far enough to release the engagement between the tongue F and the lip E.

Some forms of old-fashioned snap-hooks present a somewhat analogous appearance to this structure; but they are not formed with a lip such as is provided in this case, and they are formed with a pretty regular curve at the lower end Where in this structure the incline D is situated, and from the fact that there is so much room below the end of the tongue the engagement of the fabric in such a structure with the end of the tongue would not be as close as in the present contrivance. It is believed to be better for the proper working of this contrivance that the distance between the inner lower edge of the tongue F and the inner surface of the incline D should be considerably less than the distance between the inner lower edge of the tongue F and the inner surface of the back 0 at the junction between the back O and the incline D, so that the fabric which is clasped should be held and supported by the incline D in close proximity to the inner edge of the tongue F, instead of being allowed to drop below it, as it would were there more room, which would occur if the inclineD, instead of being straight,

were made as a curve, convex upon its exterior, for if you depended for the grip of this catch upon the garment solely upon the tension of the spring-tongue F and its pressure on the fabric by the recoil toward the lip E the fabric would readily pull out from be tween the tongue and the lip; but if we do not allow the fabric to drop much below the end of the tongue it is held not only by the tension of the spring-tongue F and its pressure against the lip E, but also by the extra resistance causedby pulling around the corner, and instead of the spring-pressure being the only thing to be overcome when an attempt is made to pull the garment away from the catch it is really the stifiness of the incline D that is to be overcome before the garment shall be released, and this transfer of the resislance which holds the garment from a resistance altogether superficial, and due solely to the tension to the spring-tongue F into a resistance which is due, mainly, to the stiffness of the incline D, is a result directly due to the shortness and straightness of the incline D.

The distance between the inner edge of the tongue F and the inner surface of the incline D when the catch is clasped must, of course, be somewhat greater than the thickness of the fabric which is clasped; but it need not be much greater than. the thickness of this fabric.

A clasp of one piece of metal for a difierent purpose and of different contour, although made with the turned end, was patented to D. A. Johnson October 12, 1880, No. 233,099; but if a clasp of the Johnson form be hung to a strap, as this is intended to be hung, it will not work as this catch is intended to work and does work. Nor will this clasp when applied for the purposes for which the J ohnson clasp was intended work as the Johnson clasp is described to work, and this for the reason that in the Johnson clasp the stra n upon one branch of the material is a strain which does not pull around two corners,-but only round one, and hence unless the present clasp were made with teeth it could not serve for the purpose for which the Johnson clasp was intended.

I claim as my invention anddesire to secure by Letters Patent A garment-supporting catch consisting of the head G and of two branches or legs 0 and F, integral therewith, the front outwardlyspringing branch or leg F being shorter than the back branch or leg 0 and the latter having as an integral part thereof at its bottom the incline D, terminating in the upwardlyextending lip E, the top of which latter is somewhat above the bottom of the outwardlyspringing branch orleg F, substantially as set forth.

JOHN M. RABIT'IE. Witnesses:

THos. WM. CLARKE, WILLIAM S. RICHARDSON. 

